Autonomous traveling apparatus

ABSTRACT

An autonomous traveling apparatus includes a body, a travel control unit that controls a drive member to cause the autonomous traveling apparatus to travel, an obstacle detection unit that detects an object located within a predetermined obstacle sensing area, a restart switch disposed on the body and operable to cause the autonomous traveling apparatus to resume traveling from a stop mode, and a restart control unit that, when an operation of activating the restart switch is performed by a user, causes the obstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection so as not to detect the user as an obstacle until the user who has performed the operation of activating the restart switch moves out of the obstacle sensing area, and causes the autonomous traveling apparatus to resume traveling.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates to autonomous traveling apparatuses, andmore specifically to an autonomous traveling apparatus having a functionof measuring distance to an obstacle and including a restart switch forallowing the autonomous traveling apparatus to restart from a stop mode.

2. Description of the Related Art

Autonomous traveling apparatuses that move autonomously have been beingused such as transport robots for transporting luggage from one place toanother and surveillance robots for monitoring conditions in and aroundbuildings or conditions in predetermined premises.

Such an autonomous traveling apparatus of the related art as describedabove stores in advance information on a map of an area where theautonomous traveling apparatus is scheduled to travel and information ona movement route, and uses information acquired from cameras, distanceimage sensors, and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to travelalong a predetermined route while avoiding obstacles.

Upon finding an obstacle on the route to travel autonomously, anautonomous traveling apparatus of the related art (hereinafter alsoreferred to simply as a vehicle) performs a process of traveling withdeceleration, changing the route, or stopping before collision with theobstacle.

To detect obstacles, for example, cameras or distance sensors foremitting laser light and detecting reflected light from objects areused.

In some cases, when an autonomous traveling apparatus stops, a person incharge at a remote location checks the surroundings of the vehicle byusing cameras or the like while at the remote location and thentransmits a restart signal by remote control to automatically restartthe autonomous traveling apparatus.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-176622proposes an agricultural vehicle with autonomous traveling capability.The agricultural vehicle includes an obstacle detector in a frontportion thereof, which is constituted by a distance sensor for detectingdistance to an obstacle, to prevent interference (collision or contact)with an obstacle on cultivated land to prevent damage to the obstacleand the body of the agricultural vehicle during operation. Theagricultural vehicle is configured to stop autonomous travel when thedistance to an obstacle is less than or equal to a predetermined setdistance. If autonomous traveling of the agricultural vehicle isstopped, the operator approaches the vicinity of the agriculturalvehicle to find out the cause of the stoppage. After eliminating thecause, the operator operates a restart switch on the body of theagricultural vehicle.

However, when an autonomous traveling apparatus of the related art stopsdue to an obstacle or the like and is then restarted by remote control,the autonomous traveling apparatus may collide with the obstacle or thelike unless the obstacle or the like, which is the cause of thestoppage, is removed. In this case, the autonomous traveling apparatusmay encounter a problem when traveling after a restart.

Accordingly, an autonomous traveling apparatus which has stopped may bein a dangerous situation. Thus, it is desirable that the user, or theoperator, check the vehicle for safety and restart the vehicle.

As in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.2005-176622, when the operator operates the restart switch on the bodyof the agricultural vehicle, immediate startup of obstacle detection andresumption of autonomous traveling of the agricultural vehicle may causethe operator, who has operated the restart switch, to be detected as anobstacle since the operator is still near the body of the agriculturalvehicle immediately after the restart switch has been activated, and maycause the agricultural vehicle to stop again.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the present disclosure provides an autonomous travelingapparatus configured to prevent a user who has operated a restart switchfrom being detected as an obstacle and to safely resume travelingautonomously after a restart.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anautonomous traveling apparatus including a body, a travel control unit,an obstacle detection unit, a restart switch, and a restart controlunit. The travel control unit controls a drive member to cause theautonomous traveling apparatus to travel. The obstacle detection unitdetects an object located within a predetermined obstacle sensing area.The restart switch is disposed on the body and is operable to cause theautonomous traveling apparatus to resume traveling from a stop mode.When an operation of activating the restart switch is performed by auser, the restart control unit causes the obstacle detection unit toresume obstacle detection so as not to detect the user as an obstacleuntil the user who has performed the operation of activating the restartswitch moves out of the obstacle sensing area, and causes the autonomoustraveling apparatus to resume traveling.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided amethod for restarting an autonomous traveling apparatus. The autonomoustraveling apparatus includes a body, a travel control unit that controlsa drive member to cause the autonomous traveling apparatus to travel, anobstacle detection unit that detects an object located within apredetermined obstacle sensing area, a restart switch disposed on thebody and operable to cause the autonomous traveling apparatus to resumetraveling from a stop mode, and a restart control unit. The methodincludes, by the restart control unit, detecting whether a user hasperformed an operation of activating the restart switch, detecting, inresponse to detection of the operation of activating the restart switch,whether the user who has performed the operation of activating therestart switch has moved out of the obstacle sensing area, causing theobstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection so as not to detectthe user as an obstacle until movement of the user out of the obstaclesensing area is detected, and causing the travel control unit to resumetraveling of the autonomous traveling apparatus.

According to still another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anon-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for causing acomputer to execute a process. The process includes controlling a drivemember to cause a vehicle to travel, detecting an object located withina predetermined obstacle sensing area, detecting activation of a restartswitch that is disposed on a body of the vehicle and operable to causethe vehicle to resume traveling from a stop mode, and, in response todetection of an operation of activating the restart switch by a user,resuming obstacle detection so as not to detect the user as an obstacleuntil the user who has performed the operation of activating the restartswitch moves out of the obstacle sensing area, and causing the vehicleto resume traveling.

The program may be provided in various forms. For example, the programmay be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or may be downloadedfrom an external server or the like via a network such as the Internetand stored in a rewritable non-volatile storage medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an external view of an example of an autonomous travelingapparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating a configuration related totraveling of the autonomous traveling apparatus according to theembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of an example of the autonomoustraveling apparatus according to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a distancedetection unit according to the embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the scanning direction oflaser light emitted from the distance detection unit according to theembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematic diagrams illustrating an area irradiatedwith the laser light, as viewed from above and behind, respectively,according to the embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams illustrating examples of aposition(s) where a restart switch(s) is attached according to theembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a case where a user, after pressing arestart switch on a left side surface, moves to the left;

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate obstacle sensing areas set when the userpresses either of two restart switches;

FIGS. 10A to 10D are schematic diagrams illustrating how the autonomoustraveling apparatus which is normally traveling stops upon detection ofan obstacle and the user presses a restart switch and then moves awayfrom the autonomous traveling apparatus;

FIGS. 11A to 11C are schematic diagrams illustrating how the user, afterpressing the restart switch, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus and the autonomous traveling apparatus starts travelingaccording to a first embodiment;

FIGS. 12A to 12C are schematic diagrams illustrating how the user, afterpressing the restart switch, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus and the autonomous traveling apparatus starts travelingaccording to a second embodiment;

FIGS. 13A to 13C are schematic diagrams illustrating how the user, afterpressing the restart switch, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus and the autonomous traveling apparatus starts travelingaccording to a third embodiment;

FIGS. 14A to 14C are schematic diagrams illustrating how the user, afterpressing the restart switch, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus and the autonomous traveling apparatus starts travelingaccording to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a device usedfor obstacle detection;

FIGS. 16A and 16B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example thatenables avoidance of a detected obstacle after an obstacle detectionfunction has been resumed; and

FIGS. 17A and 17B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example inwhich, after an obstacle detection function has been resumed, differentrecovery waiting times are set if an obstacle is detectable overdifferent distances.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described withreference to the drawings. It is to be understood that the presentdisclosure is not limited to the following embodiments and examples.

Configuration of Autonomous Traveling Apparatus

FIG. 1 is an external view of an example of an autonomous travelingapparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

In FIG. 1, an autonomous traveling apparatus 1 according to embodimentsof the present disclosure is a vehicle having a function of movingautonomously while avoiding obstacles on the basis of predeterminedroute information.

The autonomous traveling apparatus 1 may also have various functions,such as a transportation function, a monitoring function, a cleaningfunction, a navigation function, and a notification function, inaddition to the movement function.

The following examples mainly provide an autonomous traveling apparatusthat is capable of traveling autonomously within a predetermined outdoormonitoring area or along a predetermined outdoor passage to monitor themonitoring area or the like or transport an object from one place toanother.

Referring to the external view in FIG. 1, the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 (hereinafter also referred to as the vehicle 1) mainlyincludes a body 10, four wheels (21 and 22), a monitoring device 2, anda control device 3.

The monitoring device 2 has a function of checking the conditions of anarea within which the vehicle 1 is to move or the conditions of thesurface of the road on which the vehicle 1 is traveling or a function ofmonitoring a target of surveillance. For example, the monitoring device2 includes a distance detection unit 51 that checks the conditions of aspace ahead in the direction of movement, a camera (imaging unit) 55,and a position information acquisition unit 58 (described below) thatacquires information on the current position of the vehicle 1 that istraveling.

The control device 3 executes functions of the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, suchas the traveling function and the monitoring function. For example, thecontrol device 3 includes a control unit 50, an image recognition unit56, an obstacle detection unit 57, a communication unit 54, and astorage unit 70, which will be described below.

The autonomous traveling apparatus 1 according to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure travels autonomously while checking conditions aheadof, beside, and behind the body 10 in the direction of travel by usingthe camera 55, the distance detection unit 51, and the obstacledetection unit 57, for example. For instance, upon detecting anobstacle, a step, or the like ahead, the vehicle 1 performs operationssuch as stopping, turning, or driving backward or forward to change thedirection to prevent a collision with the obstacle or the like. Uponrecognizing an obstacle through image recognition or detecting a contactwith an obstacle, the vehicle 1 performs a predetermined function suchas stopping.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a configuration related to traveling of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 according to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2A is a right side view of the vehicle 1, and the right front wheel21 and the right rear wheel 22 are indicated by imaginary lines. FIG. 2Bis a cross-sectional view taken along arrowed line IIB-IIB of FIG. 2A,and sprockets 21 b, 22 b, 31 b, and 32 b described below are indicatedby imaginary lines. The front wheels (21 and 31) are disposed in a frontportion 13 of the body 10, and the rear wheels (22 and 32) are disposedin a rear portion 14 of the body 10.

The body 10 has a strip-shaped cover 18 on each of side surfaces 12R and12L thereof, and the covers 18 extend in the forward/backward directionof the body 10. Below the covers 18, axle shafts 21 a and 31 a thatrotatably support the front wheels 21 and 31, respectively, and axleshafts 22 a and 32 a that rotatably support the rear wheels 22 and 32,respectively, are disposed. The axle shafts 21 a, 31 a, 22 a, and 32 aare independently rotatable unless they are coupled using powertransmission members.

Belts 23 and 33 serving as power transmission members are disposedaround the pair of right front and rear wheels (21 and 22) and the pairof left front and rear wheels (31 and 32), respectively. Specifically,the axle shaft 21 a of the right front wheel 21 is provided with thesprocket 21 b, and the axle shaft 22 a of the right rear wheel 22 isprovided with the sprocket 22 b. The belt 23 is wrapped around thesprocket 21 b for the front wheel 21 and the sprocket 22 b for the rearwheel 22 in such a manner that, for example, projections on the innerside of the belt 23 are engaged with the teeth of the sprockets 21 b and22 b. Likewise, the axle shaft 31 a of the left front wheel 31 isprovided with the sprocket 31 b, and the axle shaft 32 a of the leftrear wheel 32 is provided with the sprocket 32 b. The belt 33 having astructure similar to that of the belt 23 is wrapped around the sprocket31 b for the front wheel 31 and the sprocket 32 b for the rear wheel 32.

Since the pair of right front and rear wheels (21 and 22) and the pairof left front and rear wheels (31 and 32) are coupled and driven usingthe respective belts (23 and 33), it is only required to drive one ofthe wheels in each pair. For example, it is only required to drive thefront wheels (21 and 31). When one of the wheels in each pair is a drivewheel, the other wheel serves as a driven wheel that is driven by thecorresponding belt serving as a power transmission member withoutslippage.

Examples of the power transmission member used to couple and drive thepair of front and rear wheels on each of the left and right sidesinclude, in addition to sprockets and a belt having projections engagedwith the sprockets, sprockets and a chain engaged with the sprockets. Ifslippage is allowable, high-friction pulleys and a belt may be used as apower transmission member. In this case, the power transmission memberis configured such that each drive wheel and each driven wheel have anequal rotational speed.

In FIGS. 2A and 2B, the front wheels (21 and 31) are drive wheels andthe rear wheels (22 and 32) are driven wheels.

The body 10 has two motors on a bottom surface 15 thereof in a portionnear the front wheels 21 and 31, namely, an electric motor 41R fordriving the right front and rear wheels 21 and 22 and an electric motor41L for driving the left front and rear wheels 31 and 32. A gearbox 43Rserving as a power transmission mechanism is disposed between a motorshaft 42R of the right electric motor 41R and the axle shaft 21 a of theright front wheel 21. Likewise, a gearbox 43L serving as a powertransmission mechanism is disposed between a motor shaft 42L of the leftelectric motor 41L and the axle shaft 31 a of the left front wheel 31.Here, the two electric motors 41R and 41L are arranged side-by-side soas to be symmetric about the centerline of the body 10 in the directionof travel, and the gearboxes 43R and 43L are disposed to the right andleft of the electric motors 41R and 41L, respectively.

Each of the gearboxes 43R and 43L is an assembly constituted by gears,shafts, and so on and configured to transmit the power from thecorresponding one of the electric motors 41R and 41L to thecorresponding one of the axle shafts 21 a and 31 a, which are outputshafts, by changing the torque, the rotational speed, or the directionof rotation, and may include a clutch to switch between powertransmission and power interruption. The right rear wheel 22 and theleft rear wheel 32 are pivotably supported on bearings 44R and 44L,respectively. The bearings 44R and 44L are disposed on the bottomsurface 15 of the body 10 in the vicinity of the right side surface 12Rand the left side surface 12L, respectively.

The configuration described above enables the pair of right front andrear wheels 21 and 22 and the pair of left front and rear wheels 31 and32 in the direction of travel to be driven independently. That is, thepower of the right electric motor 41R is transferred to the gearbox 43Rvia the motor shaft 42R and is transmitted to the axle shaft 21 a afterthe rotational speed, the torque, or the direction of rotation has beenconverted by the gearbox 43R. In response to a rotation of the axleshaft 21 a, the wheel 21 rotates, and the rotation of the axle shaft 21a is transmitted to the rear wheel 22 through the sprocket 21 b, thebelt 23, and the sprocket 22 b to cause the rear wheel 22 to rotate. Thetransmission of power from the left electric motor 41L to the frontwheel 31 and the rear wheel 32 is similar to that on the right sidedescribed above.

When the two electric motors 41R and 41L have the same rotational speed,the respective gear ratios (reduction ratios) of the gearboxes 43R and43L are made equal to drive the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 forwardor backward. In order to change the speed of the autonomous travelingapparatus 1, the respective gear ratios of the gearboxes 43R and 43L arechanged with the values of the gear ratios kept equal.

In order to change the direction of travel, the respective gear ratiosof the gearboxes 43R and 43L are changed so that the rotational speed ofthe right front wheel 21 and the right rear wheel 22 and the rotationalspeed of the left front wheel 31 and the left rear wheel 32 are madedifferent. Further, the directions of rotation of the outputs of thegearboxes 43R and 43L are made different, thereby making the rightwheels 21 and 22 and the left wheels 31 and 32 rotate in oppositedirections. This enables the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 to turn onthe spot centered on the center of the body 10.

To turn the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 on the spot, higherresistance is applied to the wheels 21, 22, 31, and 32 for a largerdistance between the front wheels 21 and 31 and the rear wheels 22 and32 (for a greater wheelbase) because of no steering mechanism to makethe angles of the front wheels 21 and 31 and the rear wheels 22 and 32variable, and a higher drive torque is required to turn the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1. The respective gear ratios of the gearboxes 43Rand 43L are variable, which enables a high torque to be applied to thewheels 21, 22, 31, and 32 by reducing the rotational speed of the wheels21, 22, 31, and 32 at the time of turning.

For example, the gear ratio of the gearbox 43R is set such that thenumber of teeth of a gear near the motor shaft 42R is 10, the number ofteeth of an intermediate gear is 20, and the number of teeth of a gearnear the axle shaft 21 b is 40. In this case, the rotational speed ofthe axle shaft 21 b is equal to one quarter the rotational speed of themotor shaft 42R; a torque that is four times that of the motor shaft 42Ris obtained. A higher torque can be obtained by selecting a gear ratioso as to further reduce the rotational speed. This enables theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 to turn even on a road such as a roughor sandy road on which the wheels 21, 22, 31, and 32 have highresistance.

Since the gearboxes 43R and 43L are disposed between the motor shafts42R and 42L and the axle shafts 21 a and 31 a, respectively, vibrationfrom the wheels 21 and 31 is not transmitted directly to the motorshafts 42R and 42L. It is desirable that the gearboxes 43R and 43L beprovided with a clutch for transmitting and shutting off (interrupting)power such that when the electric motors 41R and 41L are not energized,power transmission between the electric motors 41R and 41L and the axleshafts 21 a and 31 a, which serve as drive shafts, is interrupted. Thus,if a certain amount of force applied to the body 10 causes the wheels21, 22, 31, and 32 to rotate while the autonomous traveling apparatus 1is stopped, the rotation of the wheels 21, 22, 31, and 32 is nottransmitted to the electric motors 41R and 41L. As a result, nocounter-electromotive force is generated in the electric motors 41R and41L and no damage may occur to the circuit of the electric motors 41Rand 41L.

Accordingly, the pair of right front and rear wheels and the pair ofleft front and rear wheels are coupled using respective powertransmission members and are driven by two electric motors arranged nearthe front wheels to drive the four wheels. Thus, no dedicated electricmotors are used for the rear wheels or no dedicated gearboxes are usedfor the rear wheels between the electric motors and the rear wheels. Asa result, the space for such dedicated electric motors and gearboxes forthe rear wheels may be reduced.

As described above, the two electric motors 41R and 41L are arranged onthe bottom surface 15 of the body 10 near the front wheels 21 and 31 inthe right and left portions in the direction of travel, respectively,and the gearboxes 43R and 43L are arranged to the right and left of theelectric motors 41R and 41L, respectively. In contrast, the bearings 44Rand 44L are merely arranged on the bottom surface 15 near the rearwheels 22 and 32. This can ensure a large space 16 on the bottom surface15 of the body 10, extending from the center position of the body 10 to,for example, the rear edge of the body 10.

The electric motors 41R and 41L use a battery (rechargeable battery) 40,such as a lithium ion battery, as a power source, and the battery 40 isaccommodated in the space 16. Specifically, the battery 40 has asubstantially rectangular parallelepiped profile, for example, and canbe mounted at substantially the center position on the bottom surface 15in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2B. The rear portion 14 of the body 10is desirably to be openable and closable with respect to an uppersurface or the bottom surface 15, for example, to facilitate insertionand removal of the battery 40 into and from the space 16. Accordingly,the battery 40 having a capacity large enough to drive the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 for a long time can be mounted in the space 16 ofthe body 10. In addition, operations such as replacement, charging, andcheckup of the battery 40 are feasible by accessing the rear portion 14.Additionally, the battery 40 can be arranged on the bottom surface 15,thereby achieving an electric powered vehicle with the center of gravitylowered and capable of traveling stably.

FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of an example of the autonomoustraveling apparatus according to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

In FIG. 3, the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 according to theembodiments of the present disclosure mainly includes a control unit 50,the distance detection unit 51, a travel control unit 52, wheels 53, acommunication unit 54, the camera 55, an image recognition unit 56, anobstacle detection unit 57, a position information acquisition unit 58,a rechargeable battery 59, a restart switch 60, a restart control unit61, a sensing area setting unit 62, and a storage unit 70.

Further, the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 is connected to amanagement server 5 via a network 6, travels autonomously on the basisof instruction information or the like sent from the management server5, and transmits acquired monitoring information and the like to themanagement server 5.

The network 6 may be any currently available network. Desirably, thenetwork 6 is a network capable of wireless communication (for example, awireless local area network (LAN)) since the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 is a mobile apparatus.

Examples of the network for wireless communication include the Internet,which is publicly available, and a wireless network with dedicated linesaccessible to limited devices. Examples of the scheme for wirelesstransmission over wireless communication paths include schemes complyingwith standards such as wireless LAN (regardless of whether WiFi(registered trademark) authentication is required or not), ZigBee(registered trademark), and Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy(LE), and any of them may be used in consideration of the radio arrivaldistance, the transmission band, and the like. For example, a mobiletelephone network or the like may be used.

The management server 5 mainly includes a communication unit 91, amonitoring control unit 92, and a storage unit 93.

The communication unit 91 communicates with the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 via the network 6 and desirably has a wireless communicationfunction.

The monitoring control unit 92 controls movement of the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 and executes functions such as collectinginformation on the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 and monitoring theautonomous traveling apparatus 1.

The storage unit 93 stores information for instructing the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 to move, monitoring information (receivedmonitoring information 93 a) sent from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1, a program for monitoring control, and so on.

The control unit 50 of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 controls theoperations of the constituent components such as the travel control unit52 and is implemented using mainly a microcomputer including a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory(RAM), an input/output (I/O) controller, a timer, and so on.

The CPU causes various hardware components to organically operate inaccordance with a control program stored in advance in the ROM or thelike to execute a traveling function, an image recognition function, anobstacle detection function, and so on according to the embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

The distance detection unit 51 detects distance to an object and a roadsurface located in a predetermined space (for example, within anobstacle sensing area) including a space ahead of the current positionof the vehicle 1 in the direction of travel. The distance detection unit51 is arranged at substantially the center in the front portion 13 ofthe body 10. The object may be, for example, a building, a post, a wall,or a protrusion when the vehicle 1 is traveling outdoors.

For instance, the distance detection unit 51 emits predetermined lightto the obstacle sensing area and then receives light reflected by anobject and a road surface located within the obstacle sensing area todetect distance to the object and road surface.

Specifically, the distance detection unit 51 is constituted by mainly alight emitting unit 51 a that emits light to a predetermined area in thedirection of travel, a light receiving unit 51 b that receives lightreflected by an object, and a scanning control unit 51 c thattwo-dimensionally or three-dimensionally changes the direction ofemission of light.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the distance detection unit 51according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In FIG. 4, laser light 51 d emitted from the light emitting unit 51 a isreflected by an object 100, and a portion of the laser light 51 d thatreturns from the object 100 over a light-receiving distance L0 isreceived by the light receiving unit 51 b.

Examples of the light to be emitted include laser light, infraredradiation, visible light, an ultrasonic wave, and an electromagneticwave. Laser light is desirably used because it is desirable to ensuredistance measurement during night hours.

Light Detection and Ranging or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging(LIDAR) devices are currently available as distance detection sensors. ALIDAR device may be used as the distance detection unit 51.

A LIDAR device is a device that emits laser light to a two-dimensionalspace or a three-dimensional space within a predetermined obstaclesensing area to measure distances to a plurality of measurement pointswithin the obstacle sensing area. Measurement of a distance to ameasurement point in a two-dimensional space in the horizontal directionis referred to as 2D LIDAR, and measurement of a distance to ameasurement point in a three-dimensional space in the horizontaldirection and the vertical direction is referred to as 3D LIDAR.

In LIDAR, after laser light is emitted from the light emitting unit 51a, light reflected by an object is detected by the light receiving unit51 b to calculate the light-receiving distance L0 from, for example, thetime difference between the time of light emission and the time of lightreception. The light-receiving distance L0 corresponds to measureddistance information 72 described below.

The laser light emitted from the light emitting unit 51 a impinges on astationary object that is a distance L0 away from the light emittingunit 51 a. In this case, the light travels a distance (2L0) that istwice the distance L0 from the leading end of the light emitting unit 51a to the surface of the object and is then received by the lightreceiving unit 51 b.

The time of emission of laser light and the time of reception of laserlight deviate from each other by an amount corresponding to the time T0taken for the laser light to travel the distance (2L0) described above.In other words, a time difference T0 occurs. The time difference T0 andthe velocity of the light can be utilized to calculate thelight-receiving distance L0.

The distance to the object (obstacle) is further detected based on thecalculated light-receiving distance L0.

In FIG. 4, the distance detection unit 51 does not move and the laserlight emitted from the light emitting unit 51 a travels along the sameoptical path.

Thus, when light impinges on a point on the object 100 and lightreflected from the point is received, only the distance between theleading end of the light emitting unit 51 a and the point on the object100 is calculated.

The scanning control unit 51 c mainly scans the direction of lightemission so that light can be emitted toward a plurality ofpredetermined measurement points within an obstacle detection area in aspace ahead in the direction of travel. The scanning control unit 51 cslightly changes the orientation of the distance detection unit 51 atcertain time intervals to slightly change the optical path along whichthe emitted laser light travels.

In 2D LIDAR, the LIDAR device 51 changes the direction of laser emissionby a predetermined scanning pitch within a predetermined two-dimensionalspace in the horizontal direction to calculate distance to an object(horizontal two-dimensional scanning). For a three-dimensionalcalculation of a distance to an object using 3D LIDAR, the LIDAR device51 vertically changes the direction of laser emission by a predeterminedscanning pitch and further performs horizontal two-dimensional scanningin the way described above to calculate distance.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates the scanning direction of the laserlight emitted from the distance detection unit (LIDAR device) 51.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an area irradiated with the laser lightemitted from the distance detection unit (LIDAR device) 51, as viewedfrom above (FIG. 6A) and from behind (FIG. 6B).

In FIG. 5, a single dot represents a position (hereinafter also referredto as a measurement point) at which the laser light impinges on atwo-dimensional vertical plane (a vertical plane) located at a positionspaced away by a predetermined distance.

For example, the orientation of the distance detection unit 51 ischanged so that the direction of the laser light emitted from the lightemitting unit 51 a of the distance detection unit 51 is horizontallydisplaced to the right by a predetermined scanning pitch, which allowsthe laser light to impinge on the vertical plane at an adjacent position(measurement point) that is horizontally shifted to the right by thecorresponding scanning pitch.

If an object is located at this position on the vertical plane, aportion of the laser light that is reflected from the corresponding oneof the measurement points is received by the light receiving unit 51 b.

The direction of laser irradiation is horizontally shifted sequentiallyby a predetermined scanning pitch in the way described above, whichallows a predetermined number of measurement points to be irradiatedwith the laser light. For each of the measurement points irradiated withthe laser light, whether reflected light has been received is checked tocalculate distance.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example in which the direction of laserirradiation is horizontally shifted by a scanning pitch to scan thelaser light rightward or leftward (i.e., horizontally) in FIG. 6A.

For instance, the direction of laser irradiation is the rightmost one inFIG. 6A. In this case, if an object is located in this direction,reflected light from the object is received to calculate alight-receiving distance L0.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, if the laser light is scanned vertically, forexample, the laser light is emitted in directions that are verticallyshifted upward by a predetermined scanning pitch. In this case, thelaser light impinges on the vertical plane at an adjacent position(measurement point) that is vertically shifted upward by the scanningpitch.

The direction of laser emission is vertically shifted upward by onescanning pitch and then, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, the direction oflaser irradiation is shifted horizontally, which enables the laser lightto be applied to the measurement point at a position shifted upward byone scanning pitch and horizontally shifted from the precedingmeasurement point.

Accordingly, horizontal laser scanning and vertical laser scanning areperformed sequentially to apply laser light to a predeterminedthree-dimensional space, and, if an object is located in thethree-dimensional space, the distance to the object is calculated.

When the light (laser light) emitted toward a plurality of measurementpoints is reflected by an object, if it is confirmed that the lightreflected by the object is received by the light receiving unit 51 b, aportion of the object is determined to be present at the position of ameasurement point to which distance is calculated.

The object is located within an area including a plurality ofmeasurement points at which portions of the object are determined to bepresent, and sensing information that distinguishes the shape of theobject, the posture of a person, or the like is acquired frominformation on the area including the plurality of measurement points.

The sensing information, which is information that distinguishes acertain object, may be acquired by the distance detection unit 51 or maybe acquired from image data of the object whose image is captured withthe camera 55.

In the foregoing description, two-dimensional scanning is performed insuch a manner that laser light is scanned horizontally, by way ofexample but not limitation. The direction in which laser light isemitted may be changed vertically.

The laser light is applied to a three-dimensional measurement space insuch a manner that, after two-dimensional scanning is performed in thevertical direction, the direction of laser emission is horizontallyshifted by a predetermined scanning pitch and two-dimensional scanningin the vertical direction is sequentially performed in a similar way.

FIG. 6B schematically illustrates measurement points irradiated withlaser light in a three-dimensional space when the laser light is scannedboth horizontally and vertically.

If no object is located in a direction toward a measurement point towhich laser light is emitted, the laser light travels along the opticalpath and no reflected light is received, resulting in no distancemeasurement.

On the other hand, if reflected light of the laser light emitted towarda certain measurement point is received, a distance is calculated and anobject is recognized to be located at a position spaced away by thecalculated distance.

In FIG. 6B, reflected light from six measurement points in a lower rightportion is detected, and an object (such as a person or an obstacle) isrecognized to be located within an area including the six measurementpoints.

If a predetermined number of measurement points or more measurementpoints (for example, ten or more measurement points) to which distancesare measured are detected in an object detection area including aplurality of measurement points, an object is determined to be locatedwithin an area including the detected measurement points.

However, for instance, if the number of measurement points to whichdistances have been measured is less than a predetermined number or themeasurement of distances at certain measurement points neighboring ameasurement point to which distance has been measured is not successful,it is probable that no object will be located around the measurementpoint(s) and the distance measured at the measurement point(s) isdetermined to be erroneous.

In principle, when the number of measurement points to which distanceshave been measured is counted, a single measurement point is counted asone. For example, when distances have been measured at ten measurementpoints within a predetermined detection area, the number of measurementpoints within the area is counted as ten.

When the laser light 51 d is incident on the light receiving unit 51 bof the distance detection unit 51, an electrical signal corresponding tothe intensity of the received laser light 51 d is output.

The control unit 50 checks the electrical signal output from the lightreceiving unit 51 b. For example, upon detection of an electrical signalhaving intensity greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, thecontrol unit 50 determines that laser light has been received.

The light emitting unit 51 a includes an existing laser light emittingelement, and the light receiving unit 51 b includes a laser lightreceiving element that detects laser light.

Further, the control unit 50 uses the time difference T0 between thetime of emission of laser light from the light emitting unit 51 a andthe time of reception of reflected light at the light receiving unit 51b to calculate a light-receiving distance L0 that is a distance betweenthe light emitting unit 51 a and each of a plurality of measurementpoints.

For instance, the control unit 50 acquires the current time by using atimer, calculates the time difference T0 between the time of laseremission and the time of light reception at which reception of laserlight was confirmed, and calculates the light-receiving distance L0 byusing the time difference T0 between the emission time and the receptiontime and also using the velocity of the laser light.

The travel control unit 52 controls a drive member that causes theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 to travel and mainly controls therotation of the wheels 53 corresponding to the drive member to cause theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 to travel straight and turn, therebyachieving automatic traveling of the vehicle 1. Examples of the drivemember include wheels and Caterpillar (registered trademark) tracks.

The wheels 53 correspond to the four wheels (21, 22, 31, and 32)illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A, and 2B.

As described above, of the wheels, the right and left front wheels (21and 31) may be drive wheels and the right and left rear wheels (22 and32) may be driven wheels whose rotation is not controlled.

Alternatively, each of the right and left drive wheels (21 and 31) maybe provided with an encoder (not illustrated) to measure the distancetraveled by the vehicle 1 by using the rotational speeds, the directionsof rotation, the positions of rotation, and the rates of rotation of therespective wheels, thereby controlling the travel of the vehicle 1. Eachencoder corresponds to a speed detection unit.

The communication unit 54 transmits and receives data to and from themanagement server 5 via the network 6. As described above, thecommunication unit 54 desirably has a function of accessing the network6 via wireless communication and communicating with the managementserver 5.

For example, a notification process is executed upon occurrence of ananomaly. In this case, the communication unit 54 transmits notificationinformation indicating the occurrence of the anomaly and including thedate and time when and the location where the anomaly occurred to themanagement server 5, which is located at a position different from thatof the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

The notification information may be transmitted to a terminal possessedby a person in charge at a position different from that of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1. The notification information may betransmitted to at least one or both of the management server 5 and theterminal.

The destination of the notification information needs to be set inadvance. The destination may be changed or a further destination may beadded, depending on how the vehicle 1 is driven, in accordance withanomalies or the like.

The camera 55 (imaging unit) mainly captures an image of a predeterminedspace including a space ahead of the vehicle 1 in the travel direction.Either a still image or a moving image may be captured. A captured imageis stored in the storage unit 70 as input image data 71 and istransferred to the management server 5 in accordance with a request fromthe management server 5.

The vehicle 1 may include a plurality of cameras 55 instead of a singlecamera 55. For example, four cameras may be fixedly disposed to captureimages of environments ahead of, to the left of, to the right of, andbehind the vehicle 1. Additionally, each camera may be designed suchthat the direction in which the camera captures images can be changed ormay have a zoom function.

When the vehicle 1 is traveling outdoors, images captured with thecamera 55 in good weather and sufficiently bright conditions areanalyzed to detect a person, an obstacle, road surface conditions, andso on.

The image recognition unit 56 recognizes an object in image data (theinput image data 71) obtained by the camera 55. For instance, the imagerecognition unit 56 extracts an object included in image data andrecognizes the extracted object as a person if the object haspredetermined features of a person's body. The image recognition unit 56further compares image data (person image) of a portion of therecognized person with information on registered persons which is storedin advance in the storage unit 70 to determine whether the personcorresponding to the person image matches any of the persons registeredin advance. The image recognition process may be based on an existingimage recognition technique.

The object to be recognized is not limited to a person and may be anobstacle such as a wall, a post, a step, an animal, or a narrow passage.

The obstacle detection unit 57 detects an object located within apredetermined obstacle sensing area and mainly detects an object (suchas an obstacle or a person) by using information acquired from thedistance detection unit 51. In particular, the position of an object towhich distance is detected by the distance detection unit 51 within theobstacle sensing area and the direction of the position at which theobject is located with respect to the direction of travel may bedetected.

For instance, the obstacle detection unit 57 detects the presence of anobstacle at a position corresponding to a measurement point from whichreflected light has been received and to which distance has beencalculated by the distance detection unit 51.

As described above, since distances to a plurality of measurement pointsare calculated, the size, position, and shape of an obstacle and thedistance to the obstacle are acquired from position information of themeasurement points to which distances are calculated.

Furthermore, the direction of laser irradiation at substantially themiddle of the directions of laser irradiation in the laser scanningdirection illustrated in FIG. 6A is assumed to be the direction oftravel of the vehicle 1. In this case, whether the detected obstacle islocated to the right or the left of the direction of travel or locatedexactly in the direction of travel can be determined from therelationship between the position of the measurement point at which theobstacle is detected and the scanning direction of laser light.

Furthermore, the direction in which an obstacle is located may bedetermined on the basis of the angle of the position at which theobstacle is located relative to zero degrees, where the direction oftravel is set to zero degrees. That is, the direction in which theobstacle is located relative to the direction of travel can be detected.

The information on the detected obstacle is stored in the storage unit70 as obstacle information 76. The obstacle information 76 is constantlyacquired during the travel of the vehicle 1 and is updated atpredetermined time intervals.

Examples of the obstacle detection unit 57 include, in addition to 2DLIDAR and 3D LIDAR devices corresponding to the distance detection unit51, the camera 55 and ultrasonic sensors attached to a bumper or thelike.

The position information acquisition unit 58 acquires information (suchas the latitude and longitude) indicating the current position of thevehicle 1, and may acquire current position information 73 by using GPS,for example.

The acquired current position information 73 is compared with routeinformation 74 stored in advance in the storage unit 70 to determine thedirection in which the vehicle 1 is to travel, in accordance with whichthe vehicle 1 is caused to travel autonomously.

To realize autonomous traveling of the vehicle 1, it is desirable to useinformation obtained from all of the distance detection unit 51, thecamera 55, the obstacle detection unit 57, and the position informationacquisition unit 58, described above. However, information obtained fromat least one of them may be used to realize autonomous traveling of thevehicle 1.

The position information acquisition unit 58 may employ any othercurrently available satellite navigation system other than GPS. Examplesof the satellite navigation system include the Quasi-Zenith SatelliteSystem (QZSS), which was developed by Japan, the Global NavigationSatellite System (GLONASS), which was developed by Russia, Galileo,which was developed by EU, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, whichwas developed by China, and the Indian Regional Navigational SatelliteSystem (IRNSS), which was developed by India.

The rechargeable battery 59 supplies electric power to the functionalcomponents of the vehicle 1 and mainly supplies electric power toimplement a traveling function, a distance detection function, an imagerecognition function, an obstacle detection function, and acommunication function.

A rechargeable battery such as a lithium ion battery, a nickel-metalhydride battery, a nickel-cadmium (Ni—Cd) battery, a lead battery, orany fuel cell is used.

The autonomous traveling apparatus 1 may further include a remainingbattery capacity detection unit (not illustrated) for detecting theremaining capacity of the rechargeable battery 59 (remaining batterycapacity), determine whether to return to a predetermined chargingfacility on the basis of the detected remaining battery capacity, andautomatically return to a charging facility if the remaining batterycapacity is less than a predetermined remaining capacity level.

The restart switch 60 is an input member disposed on the body 10 of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 to allow the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 to resume (restart) traveling from a stop mode. The restartswitch 60 is operated by a user to express their intention to cause theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 to restart after the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 is temporarily stopped. For safety, it isdesirable that the restart switch 60 be placed at a special position onthe body 10 of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 so as to prevent athird party from easily operating the restart switch 60. For explicitoperation, it is desirable to use a push-button switch, for example.

While a single input member may be used as the restart switch 60, aplurality of input members may be disposed at different positions on thebody 10.

The restart control unit 61 controls the operation of the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 after the user has operated the restart switch 60.

In particular, when the user performs an operation of activating therestart switch 60, the restart control unit 61 causes the obstacledetection unit 57 to resume obstacle detection so as not to detect theuser, who has performed the operation of activating the restart switch60, as an obstacle until the user moves out of the obstacle sensing areaand causes the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 to resume traveling.

Specifically, as described below, the restart control unit 61 sets anobstacle sensing area, performs a user absence detection process,determines whether a recovery waiting time has elapsed, and determinesthe travel direction after a restart, for example.

The restart control unit 61 mainly limits the obstacle detectionfunction to be enabled. After the user who has operated the restartswitch 60 moves out of the obstacle sensing area, the restart controlunit 61 may perform a normal autonomous traveling and obstacle detectionprocess.

The sensing area setting unit 62 sets an obstacle sensing area fordetecting an object after the user has performed an operation ofactivating the restart switch 60. Alternatively, the sensing areasetting unit 62 sets an area (user absence sensing area) for sensing theabsence of the user who has operated the restart switch 60.

For example, when an operation of activating the restart switch 60 isperformed, the sensing area setting unit 62 may set, as an obstaclesensing area, an area other than the vicinity of the position at whichthe restart switch 60 is disposed. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG.8 described below, a predetermined neighboring area including theposition at which the restart switch 60 is attached is excluded from theobstacle sensing area and the remaining area may be set as an obstaclesensing area.

Thereafter, the restart control unit 61 may cause the obstacle detectionunit 57 to resume obstacle detection so as to detect an object locatedwithin the obstacle sensing area as an obstacle.

In this case, the obstacle detection process may be resumed for the setobstacle sensing area immediately after the restart switch 60 has beenoperated by the user.

Further, when the user performs an operation of activating the restartswitch 60, an obstacle sensing area may be set as a user absence sensingarea for detecting the absence of the user who has performed theoperation of activating the restart switch 60. Specifically, asillustrated in FIG. 12B described below, a predetermined neighboringarea including the position at which the restart switch 60 is attachedmay be set as an area for detecting the absence of the user.

In this case, an obstacle detection process is started for the set userabsence sensing area and, when the obstacle detection unit 57 detectsthe absence of the user in the set user absence sensing area, it isdetermined that the user has moved away from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1.

Thereafter, the sensing area setting unit 62 may reset an obstaclesensing area for detecting an obstacle, and the restart control unit 61may cause the obstacle detection unit 57 to resume obstacle detection soas to detect an object located within the reset obstacle sensing area asan obstacle to execute a normal autonomous traveling and obstacledetection process.

Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 13B described below, the userabsence sensing area may be set only in an area near the position atwhich the restart switch 60 is disposed.

FIGS. 7A and 7B schematically illustrate examples of a position(s) wherethe restart switch(s) 60 is attached.

FIG. 7A illustrates the case where a single restart switch 60 isdisposed, and FIG. 7B illustrates the case where two restart switches 60are disposed.

In FIGS. 7A and 7B, the upward direction is taken to be the direction oftravel of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1. In this case, in FIG.7A, a restart switch SW1 is disposed on the left side surface of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1. Alternatively, the restart switch SW1may be disposed on the right side surface of the autonomous travelingapparatus 1.

In FIG. 7B, restart switches SW1 and SW2 are disposed on the left sidesurface and the right side surface of the autonomous traveling apparatus1, respectively.

The location where the restart switch or switches 60 are attached is notlimited to that illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B, and the restart switchor switches 60 may be disposed in a front surface portion and/or a rearsurface portion of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 in the directionof travel.

Alternatively, three or more restart switches 60 may be attached.

As in FIG. 7A, when the restart switch SW1 is disposed on the left sidesurface, the user approaches the left side surface of the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 from the left and performs an operation ofpressing the restart switch SW1. After the operation of pressing therestart switch SW1, the user moves to the left in order to move awayfrom the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIG. 8 illustrates a case where the user, after pressing the restartswitch SW1 disposed on the left side surface, moves to the left.

When the restart switch SW1 is pressed, the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 starts a predetermined functional block and attempts tostart traveling autonomously. Since the user stays near the left sidesurface immediate after pressing the restart switch SW1, immediatestartup of the obstacle detection function may cause the user to bedetected as an obstacle. Accordingly, the autonomous traveling apparatus1 may stop again.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, a variety of methods describedbelow are used to prevent the user from being detected as an obstacle toprovide safe resumption of autonomous traveling.

For example, in FIG. 8, after the user has pressed the restart switchSW1, a portion near the left side surface of the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 where the user is predicted to stay is excluded from theobstacle sensing area, and the obstacle detection function is startedfor the area other than the portion near the left side surface.

For instance, it takes about several seconds to ten and several secondsfor the user to move out of the obstacle sensing area after the userpresses the restart switch SW1. In this case, for a period of about 10seconds to 20 seconds after the restart switch SW1 has been pressed, aportion near the left side surface of the autonomous traveling apparatus1 may be excluded from the obstacle sensing area and the obstacledetection function may be executed for an area other than the vicinityof the left side surface of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1. Then,after the period described above has elapsed, the user may be regardedas having moved out of the obstacle sensing area and a normal obstaclesensing area including the portion near the left side surface of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 may be set to start travelingautonomously. The process described above corresponds to a process in afirst embodiment described below.

In addition to the constituent components described above, a collisiondetection unit for detecting a collision or contact of the vehicle 1with an obstacle during traveling or detecting an approach of thevehicle 1 to an obstacle during traveling may further be included.

For example, a contact sensor or a contactless sensor, examples of whichinclude a pressure-sensitive switch, a microswitch, an ultrasonicsensor, and an infrared range sensor, is used and is disposed on thebumper of the body 10, for example.

A single collision detection unit may be used. Desirably, however, aplurality of collision detection units are disposed at predeterminedpositions in each of the front, side surface, and rear portions of thebody 10 to ensure detection of collisions from the front, rear, andside.

For example, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors may be disposed betweenan elastic member forming the bumper and the body 10 in such a manner asto be spaced a predetermined distance from each other to measuredistance to a nearby object.

The storage unit 70 stores information or programs necessary to executethe functions of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1, and is asemiconductor memory element such as a ROM, a RAM, or a flash memory, astorage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive(SSD), or any other storage medium. The storage unit 70 stores, forexample, input image data 71, measured distance information 72, currentposition information 73, route information 74, to-be-transmittedmonitoring information 75, obstacle information 76, a recovery waitingtime 77, switch position information 78, and so on.

The input image data 71 is image data of an image captured with thecamera 55. When a plurality of cameras are disposed, image data obtainedfor each camera is stored. The image data may be either still image dataor moving image data. The image data is used to detect a suspiciousperson, detect an anomaly, or determine the direction of the vehicle 1,for example, and is transmitted to the management server 5 as a piece ofto-be-transmitted monitoring information 75.

The measured distance information 72 is a light-receiving distance L0calculated from the information acquired from the distance detectionunit 51 in the way described above. A single light-receiving distance L0indicates a distance measured at a single measurement point within apredetermined distance measurement area.

The measured distance information 72 is stored for each measurementpoint within the predetermined distance measurement area and is storedin association with position information on the measurement point. Forexample, if m measurement points are arranged in the horizontaldirection and n measurement points are arranged in the verticaldirection, light-receiving distances L0, each corresponding to one ofthe m×n measurement points in total, are stored.

If an object (such as an obstacle, a road surface, or a post) from whichlaser light is reflected is located in the direction toward eachmeasurement point and reflected light from the object is successfullyreceived, the light-receiving distance L0 to the object is stored. If noobject is located in a measurement-point direction, no reflected lightis received. Thus, for example, information indicating a measurementfailure may be stored instead of a light-receiving distance L0 as themeasured distance information 72.

The current position information 73 is information indicating thecurrent position of the vehicle 1, which is acquired by the positioninformation acquisition unit 58. The current position information 73 is,for example, information constituted by the latitude and longitudeacquired using GPS. The current position information 73 is used todetermine the direction of the vehicle 1, for example.

The route information 74 is information indicating a predetermineddriving route of the vehicle 1, and a map of a route along which thevehicle 1 is to travel is stored in advance. For example, if the routealong which or the area within which the vehicle 1 is to move is fixedlydetermined in advance, such a route or area is initially stored as fixedinformation. To change the route or the like, information transmittedfrom the management server 5 via the network 6 may be stored as newroute information 74.

The to-be-transmitted monitoring information 75 is information on avariety of targets of surveillance, which is acquired using the camera55 or the like while the autonomous traveling apparatus is traveling andwhile the autonomous traveling apparatus stops, and is transmitted tothe management server 5 via the network 6. Examples of theto-be-transmitted monitoring information 75 include the input image data71 obtained by the camera 55, the distance traveled, the movement route,environmental data (such as temperature, humidity, radiation, gas,rainfall, audio, and ultraviolet radiation), geographical data, obstacledata, road surface information, and warning information.

The obstacle information 76 is information concerning each measurementpoint or each detected obstacle and is constituted by the distance fromthe current position to the obstacle, the features of the obstacle, suchas the shape, position, direction, size, color, height, and angle ofinclination, and so on. For example, the shape and size of an obstacleand the distance to the obstacle are acquired by the distance detectionunit 51 and are stored as part of the obstacle information 76. Thecamera 55, the image recognition unit 56, and the obstacle detectionunit 57 are also used to acquire information for identifying anobstacle.

The recovery waiting time 77 is a time taken from when an operation ofactivating the restart switch 60 is performed until obstacle detectionis resumed, and is set in advance by, for example, the user.

Specifically, the recovery waiting time 77 starts to be counted when theuser presses the restart switch 60 (hereinafter also referred to as therestart switch SW), and the obstacle detection function is resumed afterthe time corresponding to the recovery waiting time 77 has elapsed.

In order to prevent the user located near the vehicle 1 from beingdetected as an obstacle, a time longer than the time expected to betaken for the user to move out of the obstacle sensing area after theuser has pressed the restart switch SW is set as the recovery waitingtime 77 (hereinafter also referred to as the recovery waiting time WT).For example, it takes about 10 seconds for the user to move out of theobstacle sensing area after the user has pressed the restart switch SW.In this case, a time longer than 10 seconds (for example, 15 seconds) isset in advance as the recovery waiting time WT.

A timer for the recovery waiting time WT is started when the userpresses the restart switch SW, and the obstacle detection function isstarted after the lapse of the set recovery waiting time WT. This canprevent the user who has pressed the restart switch SW from beingdetected as an obstacle.

The switch position information 78 is information indicating theposition at which the restart switch SW is disposed on the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1.

For example, when the restart switch SW1 is disposed at the positionillustrated in FIG. 7A, information (“near the left rear wheel”)indicating that the restart switch SW1 is disposed near the left rearwheel on the left side surface of the vehicle 1 is stored. When the tworestart switches SW1 and SW2 are disposed at the positions illustratedin FIG. 7B, information indicating that the restart switches SW1 and SW2are respectively disposed “near the left rear wheel” and “near the rightrear wheel” is stored.

The switch position information 78 is used when the sensing area settingunit 62 sets an obstacle sensing area to resume the obstacle detectionfunction at the time of restarting. For instance, the switch positioninformation 78 indicates a position “near the left rear wheel”. In thiscase, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a portion “near the left rear wheel” isexcluded from the obstacle sensing area and the remaining area is set asan obstacle sensing area to resume the obstacle detection function. Thisis because when the restart switch SW is located “near the left rearwheel”, the user who has pressed the restart switch SW may still belocated “near the left rear wheel” and stay within the obstacle sensingarea near the left rear wheel, so that this user will not be detected asan obstacle after the resumption of the obstacle detection function.

When the two restart switches SW1 and SW2 are disposed at positions“near the left rear wheel” and “near the right rear wheel”, an area nearthe position of one of the restart switches SW1 and SW2 pressed by theuser is excluded from the obstacle sensing area and the remaining areais set as an obstacle sensing area to resume the obstacle detectionfunction.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate obstacle sensing areas set when the userpresses either of the two restart switches SW1 and SW2.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9A, when the user presses therestart switch SW1 “near the left rear wheel” among the two restartswitches SW1 and SW2, a portion “near the left rear wheel” is excludedfrom the obstacle sensing area and the remaining area is set as anobstacle sensing area.

As illustrated in FIG. 9B, when the user presses the restart switch SW2“near the right rear wheel” among the two restart switches SW1 and SW2,a portion “near the right rear wheel” is excluded from the obstaclesensing area and the remaining area is set as an obstacle sensing area.

When three or more restart switches SW are disposed, an area near theposition of one of the restart switches SW pressed by the user isexcluded from the obstacle sensing area.

Alternatively, all areas near the positions of the restart switches SWmay be excluded from the obstacle sensing area.

Examples of Restart Process

Some examples of a restart process performed after the restart switch 60has been pressed will be described hereinafter.

The following examples mainly assume that a single restart switch SW1 isdisposed near the left rear wheel on the left side surface of a vehicle.As described above, a restart switch disposed at any other position ortwo or more restart switches may be used.

First Embodiment

A description will be given of an example in which the obstacledetection function is started to start traveling of a vehicle after arecovery waiting time has elapsed since a restart switch was activated.Specifically, when the user performs an operation of activating therestart switch 60 while the vehicle 1 is in stop mode, after the lapseof the recovery waiting time 77, the restart control unit 61 may causethe obstacle detection unit 57 to resume obstacle detection so as todetect an object located within the obstacle sensing area as an obstacleand may cause the vehicle 1 to start traveling autonomously.

FIGS. 10A to 10D schematically illustrate how the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 which is normally traveling stops upon detection of anobstacle and the user presses the restart switch 60 and then moves awayfrom the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIG. 10A illustrates a state where the autonomous traveling apparatus 1is normally traveling. In this state, a circular obstacle sensing areaincluding the entire 360-degree area surrounding the vehicle 1, as wellas the area in the direction of travel of the vehicle 1, is set so thatan obstacle within a predetermined radius is detectable.

FIG. 10B illustrates a state where the vehicle 1, when normallytraveling in the manner illustrated in FIG. 10A, stops upon detection ofan obstacle ahead in the direction of travel. In this state, theobstacle detection function is also disabled.

In the stop mode, the traveling function and the obstacle detectionfunction are disabled, whereas the function of checking whether therestart switch 60 has been activated (pressed) remains enabled.

FIG. 10C illustrates a press-ready state in which whether the restartswitch 60 (SW1) has been activated (pressed) is checked after thevehicle 1 has entered the stop mode. Since the obstacle detectionfunction is disabled in this state, the user who is approaching thevehicle 1 is not detected as an obstacle.

In the stop mode, the user approaches the vicinity of the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 to examine the cause of the stoppage and removesthe obstacle, if necessary, so that the autonomous traveling apparatus 1can resume traveling without a problem.

Thereafter, the user presses the restart switch SW1 to resume travelingof the autonomous traveling apparatus 1. In the case illustrated in FIG.10C, the user approaches the vicinity of the left rear wheel where therestart switch SW1 is disposed and presses the restart switch SW1.

FIG. 10D illustrates a state immediately after the user has pressed therestart switch SW1, in which the user is to move away from theautonomous traveling apparatus 1. The autonomous traveling apparatus 1is still in stop mode immediately after the restart switch SW1 has beenpressed.

FIGS. 11A to 11C schematically illustrate how the user, after pressingthe restart switch 60, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 and the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 starts travelingaccording to the first embodiment.

FIG. 11A illustrates the stop mode, which is identical to thatillustrated in FIG. 10D.

FIG. 11B illustrates a state where the autonomous traveling apparatus 1is in stop mode and is waiting for the recovery waiting time 77 toelapse. As described above, when the user presses the restart switchSW1, the preset timer for the recovery waiting time 77 is started andwaits for the recovery waiting time 77 to elapse.

During the recovery waiting time 77, the obstacle detection function isdisabled to prevent the user from being detected as an obstacle.

The user moves away as far as possible from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 during the recovery waiting time 77.

FIG. 11C illustrates a state where the autonomous traveling apparatus 1has resumed traveling after the lapse of the recovery waiting time 77.As in FIG. 10A, a circular obstacle sensing area is set so that anobstacle within a predetermined radius is detectable.

If no obstacle is located within the obstacle sensing area nor is theuser located within the obstacle sensing area, the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 returns to the normal traveling mode.

In the example described above, the execution of the obstacle detectionfunction for the entire circular obstacle sensing area is retarded untilthe recovery waiting time 77 elapses. Alternatively, an area for whichthe execution of the obstacle detection function is retarded may belimited to an area near the position of the restart switch SW1.

Accordingly, the obstacle detection function is disabled and theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 does not start traveling for a perioduntil the recovery waiting time 77 elapses after the user has actuallypressed the restart switch SW1 attached to the autonomous travelingapparatus 1. This can prevent the user who has performed the restartswitch SW1 from being detected as an obstacle and can ensure that theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 travels safely after a restart.

Second Embodiment

A description will be given of an example in which the leaving of theuser during a predetermined time after a restart switch has beenactivated is detected and a vehicle starts traveling upon detection ofthe absence of the user.

Also in a second embodiment, a change in state occurs in a mannersimilar to that in FIGS. 10A to 10D. After pressing the restart switchSW1, the user is to move away from the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIGS. 12A to 12C schematically illustrate how the user, after pressingthe restart switch SW1, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 and the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 starts travelingaccording to the second embodiment.

FIG. 12A illustrates the stop mode, which is identical to thatillustrated in FIG. 10D.

FIG. 12B illustrates a state in which a user absence detection functionhas been started immediately after the user has pressed the restartswitch SW1 when the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 is in stop mode.Immediately after the user has pressed the restart switch SW1, the usercan probably stay near the autonomous traveling apparatus 1. An obstacledetection function is immediately started, and a predetermined userabsence sensing area is set to detect the user located within the setuser absence sensing area. Thereafter, the leaving of the user within apredetermined time is detected.

In response to detection of leaving of the user, the function is changedto an obstacle detection function to detect an obstacle other than theuser to resume traveling of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIG. 12C illustrates a state in which the autonomous traveling apparatus1 has resumed traveling after the leaving of the user has been detected.As in FIG. 10A, a circular obstacle sensing area is set so that anobstacle within a predetermined radius is detectable.

If no obstacle is located within the obstacle sensing area nor is theuser located within the obstacle sensing area, the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 returns to the normal traveling mode.

Accordingly, an obstacle detection function is started immediately afterthe user has actually pressed the restart switch SW1 attached to theautonomous traveling apparatus 1, and the autonomous traveling apparatus1 resumes traveling upon detection of leaving of the user who haspressed the restart switch SW1. This can reliably prevent the user whohas performed the restart switch SW1 from being detected as an obstacleand can ensure that the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 travels safelyafter a restart without waiting for the recovery waiting time 77 toelapse.

The leaving of the user who has pressed the restart switch SW1 may bedetected using the camera 55 instead of using a LIDAR device. The camera55 may be oriented toward the restart switch SW1 to capture an image ofthe user so as to detect the presence or absence of the user.

Third Embodiment

A description will be given of an example in which, as in the secondembodiment, the leaving of the user during a predetermined time after arestart switch has been activated is detected, where an area fordetecting the absence of the user is limited.

Also in a third embodiment, a change in state occurs in a manner similarto that in FIGS. 10A to 10D. After pressing the restart switch SW1, theuser is to move away from the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIGS. 13A to 13C schematically illustrate how the user, after pressingthe restart switch SW1, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 and the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 starts travelingaccording to the third embodiment.

FIG. 13A illustrates the stop mode, which is identical to thatillustrated in FIG. 10D.

FIG. 13B illustrates a state in which a user absence detection functionhas started immediately after the user has pressed the restart switchSW1 when the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 is in stop mode.

Also, as in the second embodiment, an obstacle detection function isstarted immediately after the user has pressed the restart switch SW1.Unlike FIG. 12B, the user absence sensing area is limited to a portionnear the position of the restart switch SW1. In FIG. 13B, since therestart switch SW1 is disposed near the left rear wheel, an area locatedto the left of the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 is set as the userabsence sensing area. The user who is still located within the limiteduser absence sensing area is detected. Thereafter, the leaving of theuser within a predetermined time is detected.

In response to detection of leaving of the user, as in the secondembodiment, the function is changed to an obstacle detection functionfor detecting an obstacle other than the user to resume traveling of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIG. 13C illustrates a state in which the autonomous traveling apparatus1 has resumed traveling after the leaving of the user has been detected.As in FIG. 12C, a circular obstacle sensing area is set so that anobstacle within a predetermined radius is detectable.

Accordingly, the user who has actually pressed the restart switch SW1 isconsidered to be more likely to move in a direction away from theposition of the restart switch SW1. This can reliably prevent the userfrom being detected as an obstacle and can ensure that the autonomoustraveling apparatus 1 travels safely after a restart if a limited userabsence sensing area is set near the position of the restart switch SW1.

Fourth Embodiment

A description will be given of an example in which an area for detectingan obstacle is limited during a predetermined time taken for the user tomove out of the obstacle sensing area after a restart switch has beenactivated.

Also in a fourth embodiment, a change in state occurs in a mannersimilar to that in FIGS. 10A to 10D. After pressing the restart switchSW1, the user is to move away from the autonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIGS. 14A to 14C schematically illustrate how the user, after pressingthe restart switch SW1, moves away from the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 and the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 starts travelingaccording to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 14A illustrates the stop mode, which is identical to thatillustrated in FIG. 10D.

FIG. 14B illustrates a state in which an obstacle detection functionwith a limited obstacle sensing area has started immediately after theuser has pressed the restart switch SW1 when the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 is in stop mode.

In the fourth embodiment, as in the second embodiment or the like, anobstacle detection function is started immediately after the user haspressed the restart switch SW1. Unlike FIG. 13B, an area other than theuser absence sensing area illustrated in FIG. 13B is set as an obstaclesensing area for which the obstacle detection function is executed.

That is, obstacle detection is not performed on a portion near theposition of the restart switch SW1 where the user can probably stay.

On the other hand, the obstacle detection function for the obstaclesensing area illustrated in FIG. 14B, where the user is less likely tostay, is started immediately after the restart switch SW1 has beenpressed.

Thereafter, for example, if no obstacle is detected within the obstaclesensing area illustrated in FIG. 14B after the recovery waiting time 77described above has elapsed since the restart switch was pressed, as inthe second embodiment or the like, the area for detecting an obstacle ischanged to a normal obstacle sensing area to resume traveling of theautonomous traveling apparatus 1.

FIG. 14C illustrates a state in which the autonomous traveling apparatus1 has resumed traveling. As in FIG. 12C, a circular obstacle sensingarea is set so that an obstacle located within a predetermined radius isdetectable.

After the recovery waiting time 77 has elapsed, instead of the obstaclesensing area illustrated in FIG. 14B being expanded directly to that inFIG. 14C, the obstacle sensing area illustrated in FIG. 14B may begradually increased in size with time, whereas the size of the area nearthe position of the restart switch SW1 is gradually decreased with time,to obtain the circular obstacle sensing area illustrated in FIG. 14Cafter the recovery waiting time 77 has elapsed.

Accordingly, the user who has actually pressed the restart switch SW1 isconsidered to be more likely to move in a direction away from theposition of the restart switch SW1. Thus, an obstacle detection functionis immediately started for an area other than the area near the positionof the restart switch SW1, which can reliably prevent the user frombeing detected as an obstacle. In addition, the obstacle detectionfunction can be immediately resumed for an area where the user isconsidered to be absent, thereby ensuring that the autonomous travelingapparatus 1 travels safely after a restart.

Fifth Embodiment

A description will be given of an example in which a device used forobstacle detection is limited when an obstacle detection function isresumed after a restart switch has been activated.

That is, the restart control unit 61 may enable at least one of theLIDAR device 51, the camera 55, and a plurality of ultrasonic sensors sothat an object located within an obstacle sensing area set by thesensing area setting unit 62 is detectable.

In this embodiment, a LIDAR device, a camera, and ultrasonic sensors areincluded as devices used for obstacle detection. However, the devicesused for obstacle detection are not limited to a LIDAR device, a camera,and ultrasonic sensors.

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates an example of a device used forobstacle detection.

In FIG. 15, four devices, namely, ultrasonic sensors (A1), a 2D LIDERdevice (A2), a 3D LIDER device (A3), and a camera (A4), are used forobstacle detection.

The ultrasonic sensors include two ultrasonic sensors on a front surfaceof a vehicle in the direction of travel, one ultrasonic sensor on a leftside surface, one ultrasonic sensor on a right side surface, and twoultrasonic sensors on a rear surface. The areas Al are an example of therespective obstacle sensing areas of the ultrasonic sensors.

As described above, LIDER devices are arranged on the front surface ofthe vehicle in the direction of travel. The areas A2 are the obstaclesensing areas of the 2D LIDER device, and the area A3 is the obstaclesensing area of the 3D LIDER device. The area A4 is the obstacle sensingarea of the camera on the front surface of the vehicle in the directionof travel.

To realize normal autonomous traveling, an obstacle sensing area is setfor each of the four types of areas (A1 to A4) and the obstacledetection function is executed.

When the obstacle detection function is resumed after a restart switchhas been activated, for example, as in FIG. 8, if an obstacle sensingarea is set to an area other than an area near the position of therestart switch, the ranges covered by the four devices to be enabled arelimited as follows.

Among the ultrasonic sensors, the ultrasonic sensor on the left sidesurface is disabled and the other ultrasonic sensors are enabled.

The 2D LIDER device is enabled for an area other than the area near theposition of the restart switch. The 3D LIDER device is enabled in anormal way since the obstacle sensing area of the 3D LIDER device isahead of the vehicle in the direction of travel.

The camera is enabled for an area other than the area near the positionof the restart switch.

Accordingly, when an obstacle sensing area is limited, devices to beused for obstacle detection are enabled on the basis of the position anddirection of a set obstacle sensing area.

Sixth Embodiment

A description will be given of an example that enables avoidance of anobstacle upon detection of the obstacle, which is still present, when anobstacle detection function is resumed after a restart switch has beenactivated.

Specifically, after the restart control unit 61 has caused the obstacledetection unit 57 to resume obstacle detection so as to detect an objectlocated within an obstacle sensing area as an obstacle, upon detectionof an obstacle within the obstacle sensing area, the travel control unit52 may cause the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 to travel in adirection in which the autonomous traveling apparatus 1 does not collidewith the detected obstacle.

FIGS. 16A and 16B schematically illustrate an example that enablesavoidance of a detected obstacle after an obstacle detection functionhas been resumed.

FIG. 16A illustrates a state where an autonomous traveling apparatusaccording to a sixth embodiment, when normally traveling, stops upondetection of an obstacle in the direction of travel.

The obstacle detected in FIG. 16A is still present although the user hasinput a restart switch in the stop mode.

If the obstacle detection function is resumed in this state, theobstacle is detected as an obstacle and the autonomous travelingapparatus stops again so long as the obstacle is within the obstaclesensing area. Accordingly, as in FIG. 16A, when the autonomous travelingapparatus stops upon detection of an obstacle, information on theobstacle, such as the position or direction of the obstacle, is stored.

If the direction of travel of the autonomous traveling apparatus after arestart coincides with the direction in which the obstacle associatedwith the stored information is present, the autonomous travelingapparatus again stops traveling and waits for the user to activate therestart switch.

If the direction of travel of the autonomous traveling apparatus after arestart does not coincide with the direction in which the obstacleassociated with the stored information is present, the autonomoustraveling apparatus will not collide with the obstacle and thus resumesautonomous traveling even if the obstacle is detected within theobstacle sensing area.

FIG. 16B illustrates an example of directions in which the autonomoustraveling apparatus can travel after a restart when an obstacle ispresent.

If an obstacle is located at the position illustrated in FIG. 16B, forexample, the autonomous traveling apparatus can travel in sevendirections indicated by arrows in FIG. 16B. However, the directions inwhich the autonomous traveling apparatus can travel are not limited tothe seven directions indicated by arrows so long as the autonomoustraveling apparatus will not collide with the obstacle.

If the direction of travel of the autonomous traveling apparatus after arestart coincides with the direction in which the obstacle associatedwith the stored information is present, the autonomous travelingapparatus may change the direction of travel by, for example, travelingin any of the seven directions indicated by arrows in FIG. 16B to avoidthe obstacle and make a detour on the way to the destination.

If no obstacle is detected within the obstacle sensing area after thedirection of travel has been changed, the autonomous traveling apparatusmay be able to travel over the 360-degree range.

Seventh Embodiment

A description will be given of an example in which a length of therecovery waiting time is set in accordance with the maximum detectiondistance to an object that is detectable by the distance detection unit51 after a restart switch has been activated.

FIGS. 17A and 17B schematically illustrate an example in which, after anobstacle detection function has been resumed, different recovery waitingtimes are set if an obstacle is detectable over different distances.

For instance, an obstacle is detected using the LIDAR device 51. In thiscase, the maximum distance to an object that is detectable by the LIDARdevice 51 (hereinafter also referred to as a detectable distance) islimited in accordance with the performance of the distance detectionfunction of the LIDAR device 51. The maximum distance to an obstaclethat is detectable may change depending on the performance of the LIDARdevice 51.

If the detectable maximum detection distance is comparatively long, itis likely to take a long time for the user who has activated the restartswitch 60 to move out of an obstacle sensing area defined by the maximumdetection distance. If the detectable maximum detection distance iscomparatively short, it is likely to take a short time for the user whohas activated the restart switch 60 to move out of the obstacle sensingarea.

Thus, if the maximum detection distance is comparatively long, therecovery waiting time is set long in advance. If the maximum detectiondistance is comparatively short, the recovery waiting time is set shortin advance.

FIG. 17A illustrates a case where an obstacle sensing area set after theobstacle detection function has been resumed has a comparatively shortdetectable distance, and FIG. 17B illustrates a case where the obstaclesensing area has a comparatively long detectable distance.

A detectable distance R1 illustrated in FIG. 17A is assumed to beshorter than a detectable distance R2 illustrated in FIG. 17B (R1<R2).

In this case, in FIG. 17A, when the detectable distance R1 is relativelyshort, the obstacle detection function is resumed from the stop modeafter a comparatively short recovery waiting time T1 has elapsed sincethe user activated the restart switch 60.

In FIG. 17B, in contrast, when the detectable distance R2 is relativelylong, the obstacle detection function is resumed from the stop modeafter a comparatively long recovery waiting time T2 has elapsed sincethe user activated the restart switch 60. The recovery waiting time T2is set longer than the recovery waiting time T1 (T2>T1).

This can ensure a sufficiently long time for the user to move out of theobstacle sensing area when the time taken to resume the obstacledetection function is set long.

When the detectable distance is comparatively short, the user isexpected to move out of the obstacle sensing area for a comparativelyshort time. Thus, the time taken to resume the obstacle detectionfunction may be set short. Thus, by reducing the time taken to resumethe obstacle detection function, safe autonomous traveling can beresumed as quickly as possible.

Since the detectable distance and the recovery waiting time areconsidered to be substantially proportional, the recovery waiting timemay be determined using a predetermined calculation formula inaccordance with, for example, the length of the detectable distancedetermined in advance based on the performance of the LIDAR device.Thus, the time taken to resume the obstacle detection function isappropriately set, which can ensure a sufficient time for the user tomove out of the obstacle sensing area and can provide quick resumptionof safe autonomous traveling.

Eighth Embodiment

In the second and third embodiments described above, in order to detectthe absence of the user, the camera 55 may capture an image of the userwho has activated the restart switch 60 to perform person recognition.

In order to perform person recognition, image data of specific personswho can perform an operation of activating the restart switch 60 isstored in advance in the storage unit 70.

If an image of a person that has been captured with the camera 55matches any of images corresponding to image data of the specificpersons stored in advance in the storage unit 70, a user absence sensingarea may be set in the way described above in the second or thirdembodiment and the obstacle detection function may be resumed in anormal way after the user has moved out of the user absence sensingarea.

This can reliably prevent a specific reliable user from being detectedas an obstacle and can ensure that the autonomous traveling apparatus 1travels safely after a restart.

If an image of a person that has been captured with the camera 55 doesnot match any of the images corresponding to image data of the specificpersons stored in advance in the storage unit 70, the obstacle detectionfunction may be immediately resumed in a normal way.

In this case, a suspicious, unreliable person might have activated therestart switch 60. Thus, the obstacle detection function is quicklyresumed to detect the suspicious person as an obstacle, and a securityfunction such as alerting is enabled. This can ensure that theautonomous traveling apparatus 1 travels safely after a restart.

The present disclosure contains subject matter related to that disclosedin Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2016-147040 filed in theJapan Patent Office on Jul. 27, 2016, the entire contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An autonomous traveling apparatus comprising: abody; a travel control unit that controls a drive member to cause theautonomous traveling apparatus to travel; an obstacle detection unitthat detects an object located within a predetermined obstacle sensingarea; a restart switch disposed on the body and operable to cause theautonomous traveling apparatus to resume traveling from a stop mode; anda restart control unit that, when an operation of activating the restartswitch is performed by a user, causes the obstacle detection unit toresume obstacle detection so as not to detect the user as an obstacleuntil the user who has performed the operation of activating the restartswitch moves out of the obstacle sensing area, and causes the autonomoustraveling apparatus to resume traveling.
 2. The autonomous travelingapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit thatstores a recovery waiting time taken from when the operation ofactivating the restart switch is performed until the obstacle detectionis resumed, wherein in response to the operation of activating therestart switch when the autonomous traveling apparatus is in the stopmode, after lapse of the recovery waiting time, the restart control unitcauses the obstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection todetect an object located within the obstacle sensing area as anobstacle.
 3. The autonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising: a sensing area setting unit that sets an obstaclesensing area for detecting an object after the operation of activatingthe restart switch has been performed, wherein in response to theoperation of activating the restart switch, the sensing area settingunit sets as the obstacle sensing area an area other than an area near aposition at which the restart switch is disposed, and then the restartcontrol unit causes the obstacle detection unit to resume obstacledetection to detect an object located within the set obstacle sensingarea as an obstacle.
 4. The autonomous traveling apparatus according toclaim 1, further comprising: a sensing area setting unit that sets anobstacle sensing area for detecting an object after the operation ofactivating the restart switch has been performed, wherein in response tothe operation of activating the restart switch, the sensing area settingunit sets the obstacle sensing area as a user absence sensing area fordetecting absence of the user who has performed the operation ofactivating the restart switch, and then, in response to the obstacledetection unit detecting absence of the user within the set user absencesensing area, the sensing area setting unit resets an obstacle sensingarea for detecting an obstacle and the restart control unit causes theobstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection to detect an objectlocated within the reset obstacle sensing area as an obstacle.
 5. Theautonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the userabsence sensing area is set in only an area near a position at which therestart switch is disposed.
 6. The autonomous traveling apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the restart switch comprises one or moreinput members disposed at different positions on the body.
 7. Theautonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the restartswitch comprises one or more input members disposed at differentpositions on the body.
 8. The autonomous traveling apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein in response to detection of an obstacle within theobstacle sensing area after the restart control unit has caused theobstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection to detect an objectlocated within the obstacle sensing area as an obstacle, the travelcontrol unit causes the autonomous traveling apparatus to travel in adirection in which the autonomous traveling apparatus does not collidewith the detected obstacle.
 9. The autonomous traveling apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein in response to detection of an obstaclewithin the obstacle sensing area after the restart control unit hascaused the obstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection todetect an object located within the obstacle sensing area as anobstacle, the travel control unit causes the autonomous travelingapparatus to travel in a direction in which the autonomous travelingapparatus does not collide with the detected obstacle.
 10. Theautonomous traveling apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:a distance detection unit that emits predetermined light to the obstaclesensing area and receives light reflected by an object located withinthe obstacle sensing area to detect distance to the object, wherein theobstacle detection unit detects a position of the object to which thedistance is detected by the distance detection unit.
 11. The autonomoustraveling apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a distancedetection unit that emits predetermined light to the obstacle sensingarea and receives light reflected by an object located within theobstacle sensing area to detect distance to the object, wherein theobstacle detection unit detects a position of the object to which thedistance is detected by the distance detection unit.
 12. The autonomoustraveling apparatus according to claim 10, wherein a recovery waitingtime taken from when the operation of activating the restart switch isperformed until the obstacle detection is resumed is set in accordancewith a maximum detection distance to the object that is detectable bythe distance detection unit.
 13. The autonomous traveling apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein the recovery waiting time is set inaccordance with a maximum detection distance to the object that isdetectable by the distance detection unit.
 14. The autonomous travelingapparatus according to claim 10, wherein the distance detection unitincludes a LIDAR device that emits laser light to at least one of atwo-dimensional space and a three-dimensional space within apredetermined obstacle sensing area to measure distances to a pluralityof measurement points within the obstacle sensing area, the autonomoustraveling apparatus further comprises: an imaging unit that captures animage of a predetermined space including a travel direction of theautonomous traveling apparatus; and a plurality of ultrasonic sensorsdisposed at predetermined positions on the body and configured tomeasure distance to an object near the body, and the restart controlunit enables at least one of the LIDAR device, the imaging unit, and theplurality of ultrasonic sensors so that an object located within anobstacle sensing area that is set after the operation of activating therestart switch has been performed is detectable.
 15. The autonomoustraveling apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the distancedetection unit includes a LIDAR device that emits laser light to atleast one of a two-dimensional space and a three-dimensional spacewithin a predetermined obstacle sensing area to measure distances to aplurality of measurement points within the obstacle sensing area, theautonomous traveling apparatus further comprises: an imaging unit thatcaptures an image of a predetermined space including a travel directionof the autonomous traveling apparatus; and a plurality of ultrasonicsensors disposed at predetermined positions on the body and configuredto measure distance to an object near the body, and the restart controlunit enables at least one of the LIDAR device, the imaging unit, and theplurality of ultrasonic sensors so that an object located within anobstacle sensing area that is set after the operation of activating therestart switch has been performed is detectable.
 16. A method forrestarting an autonomous traveling apparatus, the autonomous travelingapparatus including a body, a travel control unit that controls a drivemember to cause the autonomous traveling apparatus to travel, anobstacle detection unit that detects an object located within apredetermined obstacle sensing area, a restart switch disposed on thebody and operable to cause the autonomous traveling apparatus to resumetraveling from a stop mode, and a restart control unit, the methodcomprising, by the restart control unit: detecting whether a user hasperformed an operation of activating the restart switch; detecting, inresponse to detection of the operation of activating the restart switch,whether the user who has performed the operation of activating therestart switch has moved out of the obstacle sensing area; causing theobstacle detection unit to resume obstacle detection so as not to detectthe user as an obstacle until movement of the user out of the obstaclesensing area is detected; and causing the travel control unit to resumetraveling of the autonomous traveling apparatus.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer readable medium storing a program for causing a computer toexecute a process, the process comprising: controlling a drive member tocause a vehicle to travel; detecting an object located within apredetermined obstacle sensing area; detecting activation of a restartswitch, the restart switch being disposed on a body of the vehicle andoperable to cause the vehicle to resume traveling from a stop mode; andin response to detection of an operation of activating the restartswitch by a user, resuming obstacle detection so as not to detect theuser as an obstacle until the user who has performed the operation ofactivating the restart switch moves out of the obstacle sensing area,and causing the vehicle to resume traveling.